Gastric dysmotility disorders such as gastroparesis can cause chronic debilitating symptoms. Patients suffering from such disorders generally suffer from incomplete gastric emptying and gastric dysrhythmia. In some cases, electrical stimulation can be used to treat gastric dysmotility disorders. However, some currently existing electrical stimulation devices suffer from one or more disadvantages. For example, some previous devices are bulky and/or exhibit limited performance lifetimes. Such devices can require recurring invasive surgeries to place and/or replace the devices. In addition, some existing devices provide only a single operation mode, such that electrical stimulation cannot be adjusted by a patient or doctor during use. Thus, there is a need for improved muscular and/or gastrointestinal stimulation devices.
Further, obesity and associated symptoms can often result in the necessity of surgical intervention for treatment. Patients requiring surgical intervention generally require highly invasive procedures such as restrictive or malabsorptive surgeries to reduce the size of digestive organs, to slow digestion, or to otherwise alter normal digestive function. In many cases, such invasive procedures can result in one or more serious side effects. Thus, there is a need for improved devices and or methods for treating obesity in patients.